Device for feeding sheet material to a machine, particularly to a printing machine



Aug. 20, 1935.- R. REINARTZ 2,011,776

DEVICE FOR FEEDING SHEET MATERIAL TO A MACHINE, PARTICULARLY TO APRINTING MACHINE Filed March 18, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l R. REINARTZ2,011,776 DEVICE FOR FEEDING SHEET MATERIAL TO A MACHINE,

PARTICULARLY TO A PRINTING MACHINE Flled March 18 1935 Aug. 20, 1935.

2 Sheets-Sheet fzoberi fiemi WM/MJA a I Patented Aug. 20, 1935 DEVICEFOR FEEDING SHEET MATERIAL To A MACHINE, PARTICULARLY TO A PRINT- INGMACHINE Robert Reinartz, Offenbach, near Frankfort-onthe-Main, GermanyApplication March 18, 1935, Serial No. 11,532, In Germany January 2,1934 8 Claims.

In devices for feeding sheet material to a rna' chine, it is well knownto prevent the bulging of the sheets by guide-rods or similar meanswhich smooth out the sheets and keep them flat. Such sheet controllingmeans have been combined'with the aligning gauges, or fastened in themachine, independent of said gauges. It has also been suggested toprovide such sheet controlling means on the hooks used to slow-down thesheets before they meet the front gauges.

' Such existing means however cannot be used with advantage when thesheets pass over the feed table in overlapping relation to one another,

because in such cases the means provided over the sheets cannot actimmediately on the sheet being aligned, and means, such as knownheretofore, would interfere with the motion of the overlapping sheet.

My invention relates to a device in which the sheets are also preventedby guide-rods from bulging when they are caught'by cover plates, hooks,-or front'gauges. In addition to the front gauges provided in the usualmanner with cover plates to catch and align the sheets, guide rods arearranged over the front gauges, which rods press down the overlyingsheet which is either being aligned or passing away from the feed tableand thus acts mediately on the next underlying sheet, assuring that thissheet properly enters into engagement with' the aligning organs. Theinvention also provides that the organs which are arranged under theoverlying sheet and serve to align the next or underlying sheet-such ascover plates combined with the front gauges, or cover sheetcontrolling-and aligning parts at the moment when an overlying top sheetis passing off the feed table to a printing or other machine, and theunderlying second sheet is just entering under a cover plate, to becarried along at a reduced speed to the front gauges,

Fig. 2,-a section corresponding to Fig. 1, showing the extreme front endof the feed-table at a moment when the front end of the underlying.sheet has been-carried along by the cover plate nearly to thefront-gauges.

Fig. 3, a section corresponding to Fig. 2, showing the underlying sheetin contact with the front gauges, the cover plates having passed beyondthe front end of the feed-table previous to starting their return motionbackto the position shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 4, a plan of the guide rods for keeping down the sheets, showingthe position of the feed-table, one of the front gauges and a coverplate,

Fig. 5, a section corresponding to Fig. 1 showing a front gauge and agripper just before commencing the swinging motion for passing the sheetto some transport device, or to the machine,

Fig. 6, a section corresponding to Fig. 5 showing the front gauge andgripper after the sheet has been passed on,

Fig. '7, a plan of the lower end of the feed-table showing the relativeposition of the front gauges, intermediate guide-plates and grippers,and

Fig. 8, a side elevation of one of the intermediate 2 guide-platesshownin Fig. 7.

Along the feed-table I the sheets are fed in such relation one toanother that the following sheet 1 is overlapped by the previous sheet8. On the shafts 2 (Fig. 5) there swings a sheet registering devicecarrying the front gauges 3, grippers 4 and gripper counter supports 5.The side gauge is provided on the feed-table I at some distance from thefront gauges 3, as usual, but it is not shown in the drawings. By thesheet registering device the sheets are fed to a transport device of anysuitable construction, such as reciprocating, or rotary transfergrippers, the path of which is indicated in Figs. 1, 5, and 6 by the are6. Suchgrippers are usually mounted so that a cap will be provided toavoid any interference with the registering device during andimmediately after the transfer 'of a sheet to said grippers.

Each sheet is fed first to the cover plates or preliminary front gauges20 (Figs; 1-4) which carry the sheet along to the front gauges 3, fromwhich it then passes to the transport device deplate 20 pivoted on a pinl9. This plate 20 is opened and closed by a lever 2| moved by the con-55 necting rod. 22, bell-crank lever 23, roller 24 and cam 25, whenthelever 23 is moved to and fro. Both the guideway II and cam 25 arefixed to a shaft 21 which is oscillated by the lever 28, roller 29 andcam 30 fastened to the shaft IS. The roller 24 ispressed on the cam 25by the spring 3|, while the roller 29 is pressed on the cam by thespring 32, and the roller l5 on the cam II by the spring 33. a This partof the device operates asf0llows:--

During each cycle of operations the cover plates 2|) are moved to andfro in a slot 35 in the feed table (Fig. 4) together with the slide l2.In thus reciprocating, the plate 20 is opened by the cam 25 whenapproaching the back end of its stroke (Fig. 1) and is closed againshortly after its forward motion begins (Fig. 2).

and forwards. During the motion forwards the guideway II is keptparallel to the feed tablel by the cam 30, so that the plates 20, as isclear from Fig. 2, will keep the sheet'l flat on the feedtable, with butlittle play, during the forward motion. It is preferable to make the pinI9 vertically adjustable on the arm l8, to adapt it to the thickness ofpaper or cardboard; this is not shown on the drawings for the sakeofgreater simplicity. Further, the arm l8 must be adjustable accordingto the height of the feed table.

When the sheet I, which is moved forward, together with the plates 20,and, during this motion is kept in contact with the cover plates 2|) bya suitable speed of the transport tapes, arrives in contact with thefront gauges 3, it is prevented from moving further by these gauges.plates 20 continue their forward motion until their back edges go beyondthe front edge of the sheet I, whereupon the roller 29 runs on a lowerpart of the cam 30, so that the guideway takes a more downwardlyinclined position, and the plates 20 sink below the surface of the feedtable I (Fig. 3).; Consequently the slide l2 can begin to move backwardswhile the sheet 1 is still in contact with the front gauges 3. Asmentioned above, the plates 2|) remain closed during the ater part ofthebackward stroke. Because, further, the guide retains its inclinedposition the plates 20 remain at first underneath the feed table, andonly take the position shown in Fig. 1 towards the end of the backwardmotion. In the meantime the aligned sheet '|,'as will be describedbelow, has been moved forward and has takenthe position of the sheet 8.By the rising of the arm l8, and the opening of'the plates 2|), the backend of the overlapping sheet .8 is raised. while passing away, so thatthenext sheet I can enter the space between the plate 20 and feed tableI, even when its front edge is bent up as shown in Fig. 1.

The front gauges 3 as shown particularly inthe m. l and 6 have threesuperposed motions:- swing to and fro about the axis ll relative to thebody of the sheet registering device; the

- .axis ll' swingsup and downabout the axis 42;

It remainsclosed. during th'e remainder of'its motion backwards The Thedevices for moving the sheet regising from the swinging of the sheetregistering deviceabout the. axis 2, and the swinging of the cam .46,describes the up and down movements which are necessary as shown below.The roller I 45 is pressed bya spring 48 attached to an arm 41continuously on the cam 45, unless the screw 50 on'the arm' 49 which isalso carried by the axis I 42, limits the downward movement of thisroller by pressing against the stop 5| fixed on the sheet tive to thesheet registering device by an arm 56 (Fig. 5);whichis' fastened to theaxis 4| and is connected by a connecting rod 51 with a lever 58. On theaxis 59 of the lever 58 there is fixed an arm Bilwhich carries a roller5| running on the cam 62. A spring 63 connected to the lower end of thelever 58 presses'the roller 6| continuously against the .cam 52 and hasthe tendency to turn the carrier of the front gauges 55 in the directionof the hands of a clock. The front gauges can follow this pressure untila lever 5'4 (Fig. 6) on the axis 4| presses against aroller which,-aswill bedescribed below, is journalled in the paper registering, device:By this means the extreme right position-cf the front gauge carrier 55is sufficiently determined, even when the front gauges, owing totheswinging of the axis, are moved up or down. i z I The front gauges 3,which when seen from theside, have adistorted M-shape; can be soadjusted in screwing the angular piece H to the carrier 55 that they allhave the same height relative to the feed-table. The fine adjustmentvertically, in accordance with the thickness of the sheet material, iseffected for all the front gauges and for the cover plates describedbelow by adjusting the screw 59 which influences the height of the axis4!. On the angular body H the front gauges are finally adjustablehorizontally by the adjusting screws 12 and can be fixed by the screws13. This horizontal adjustment of the front gauges is effected for eachgauge separately, unless the roller 85, as is possible, althoughmostlysuperfiuous, is made adjustable, or an ad- 'justment screw isprovided on the arm 54.

In addition to the front gauges 3, there are provided, on the axis 4|,cover plates 15 (Figs. 7 and G) which describe the same movements as thefront gauges and only differ from these bythe fact that they have novertical abutment surface.

above (Fig. 6). The gripper counter-supports 5 have arcuate extensionsto support the sheet when it is pulled awayfrom the feed-table by thes)' .et registering device;

The operation of this part of the device is as follows:

Although the cover plates 2! keep down the front edge of the sheet aslong as it moves towards the front gauges .3 (Fig. 2), still this occursonly at the few points where such coverplates 20 are provided. Atintermediate points the front edge of the sheet can bend up. For

this reason the cam 46 (Fig. 5) is so shaped that the roller 45 andtherefore also the cover-plates 86 of the front gauges 3' and theintermediate j cover-plates l5 are'raised when the front edge of thesheet I arrives at the back edge of these edge, with an amount of playregulated by the screw 50, shortly before the sheet contacts with thevertical abutment surfaces of the'gauges 3. One of the principalrequirements of an exact register is thus met. The entire front edge ofthe sheet is flattened on the feedtable, and the rise or bulging of thesheet'is prevented with .certainty, particularly at the front gauges. At

the same time the speed of the cover-plates 20 is so chosen that thespeed at which the sheet meets the gauges 3 is as low as possible. (In'*order to bring the cover plates out of the range of thesheets asquickly as possible, the motion of the slide I! can be acceleratedagain).

The descending cover-plates work better than those used in devices inwhich the alignment does not; take place in overlapped condition, and inwhich cover plates having a horn-shaped undersurface are stationaryatthe time when the sheet to be aligned enters the narrow space belowthem. However they only hold the sheet down in the neighbourhood of thefront edge of the sheet and do not replace the guide-rods commonly usedwhich lie on the sheet also at a greater distance from the front gaugesand prevent bulging. For that reason guide-rods 81 are provided here aswell which however do not'act immediately on the sheet to be aligned, asis usually the case, but they press against the overlying sheet and thusact mediately on the underlying sheet. These guiderods are not fastenedin the machine, but they are lowered just at the moment when the coverplates 15, 86 descend (Figs. 1 to Inorder not to bend the overlyingsheet 8 in an irregular manher, the cover plates 2|), 15, 86 have the.shape of flat plates, which permit the guide-rods 81 'to descend closeto the feed table without creasing the overlapping sheet. In thisposition the guide-rods, in spite of the intermediate over-.

lapping sheet 8, hold down the sheet I being aligned in exactly the sameway as in a device in which the alignmentis eifected in anon-overlapping condition. Further, the guide-rods, in spite of theoverlapping sheet, can be used to guide that part of the front edge ofthe sheet which is bent up between the plates 28; under the cover plates15, 86, if, as shown in Fig.2, their ends are brought to the height ofsaid cover-plates, at least at the moment when the front edge of thesheet moves under the back edge of said plates. On the other hand, theguide rods 81, as long as they are not serving the purpose set forthabove. must be turned up about the axis 88 (Fig. 1), as otherwise theoverlying sheet would be clamped by the rising cover plates.

As long as the sheet 1 lies against the front gauges, the sheet 8 ispulled away continuously' by the transport grippers and later by themachine itself. When its back edge has passed the side aligning gaugeswhich are at some distance from the front gauges, these side gaugesbegin to operate. Before the side alignment is finished,

device.

As soon as the side alignment is finished, the I grippers 4 close (Fig.5), and the sheet register ably 1m; the from gauges entirely, so that,at

ing device 40 then begins to swing forward with accelerating-speed.'Because the aligned sheet, after being transferred from the sheetregistering device to the transport device, is lifted off the grippercounter-support 5 of the sheet registering device, the cover-plates I5,86, must be moved out of the way while the sheet registering device ispassing from the aligning position to the point at which the sheet istaken over by the transport To this end their back edge, as in the caseof the cover plates 20, are moved away in front of the aligned frontedge of the sheet and under the path of said sheet; both operations areobtained simultaneously, in the arrangement adopted by a swingingforward of. these cover plates about the axis 4|, under the influence of.the cam 62 (Figs. 5 and6).

At this point, the sheet registering device swings back into thealigning position, the roller 6| running on the cam 62, so that thefront gauges 3 take their original position, shown in Fig. l, relativeto the sheet registering device. In Figs. 5

and 6 there is a sheet 9|, overlapped by the sheet I, which; in thetime, between the two figures, as 'shown' by the position of the parts,has approached the aligning position somewhat. This sheet 9| becomessheet 1 in Fig. 1, while the previously aligned sheet 1 becomes theoverlapping sheet 8.

To assure that no vacuum is formed when the sheet 8 is raised by thecover plates 20, which might raise the sheet 1 as well, it may bepreferable to open the cover plates earlier than described and slowly.In this case the cover plates arepreferably opened by a different partof the cam 25 from that serving to close same.

What I claim anddesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesis:

1. A device for feeding sheet material to a machine, comprising incombination, a feed table over which sheets move in overlapping relationto one another, front registering gauges adapted to align an underlyingsheet at the front end ofsaid feed table, cover plates on said frontgauges, extending rearwardly and adapted to cover the front end of eachsheet, guide-rods in a higher plane than said front gauges, adapted to.keep down the overlapping sheet and thus to mediately control theunderlying sheet in passing to said front gauges.

2. A device for feeding sheet material to a machine, comprising incombination, a feed-table over which sheets move in overlapping relationto one. another,'front gauges adapted to align each said sheet at thefront end of said table, guide rods adapted to keep down the'overlappingsheet and thus to mediately control the underlying sheet in passing tosaid front gauges, sheet controlling means adapted to engage the frontthe backend ofthe sheet 8 should have preferedge of said underlyingsheet to be aligned and mechanism to lower said sheet controlling meansto provide a not too bulging support for said overlapping sheet.

3. Sheet registering mechanism, having in com- 5 bination, a registeringtable adapted to support a continuous bank of seriated sheets, frontregistering guides, sheet slow-down means arranged to close on the topsurface of an underlying sheet and adapted to present the leading edgeof the foremost sheet .to said guides, and means extending above saidtable andfsaid registering guides and adapted to hold down a registeredsheet while it is being removed, to thereby prevent the leading edge ofan oncoming underlying sheet from curling up while it advances to saidslow-down means.

4. Sheet registering mechanism, having in com! bination, a. sheetregistering table adapted to support a continuous bank of seriatedsheets, movable front registering guides ha'ving a portion thereofextending over the leadin edge of a sheet to be registered, sheetslow-down means adapted to present the leading edge of an underlyingsheet to said guides, and means extending above said table and saidregistering guides and adapted to hold down a registered sheet while itis being removed, to thereby prevent the leading edge of an oncomingunderlying sheet from curl 'ing up while it advances to said slow-downmeans.

5. Sheet registering mechanism, having in comv bination, a sheetregistering table adapted to support a continuous bank of seriatedsheets, front registering guides and grippers bodily movable with theregistered sheet and having a. portion ereof extending over the leadingedge of a sheet to be .registered, sheet slow-down means adapted topresent the leading, edge of the :foremost sheet to said guides, andmeans extending above. said table and said registering guides andadapted to hold down a registered sheet while it is being removed, tothereby prevent the leading edge of an oncoming underlying sheet fromcurling up while it advances tosaid slow-down means. 6. Sheetregistering mechanism, having in combination, a registering tableadapted to support a continuous bank of seriated sheets, frontregisteringguides, sheet slow-down means adapted to present the leadingedge of an underlying 7 sheet to said guides and having a portionthereof extendingover the leading edge of an oncoming sheet to hold itdown, and means extending above said table and said registering guidesand adapted to holddown a registered sheet while it is being removed, tothereby prevent the leading edge of an oncoming underlying sheetfromcurlingup.

' viously registered sheet above an oncoming sheet,

and means extending above said table and said registering guides andadapted to hold downa registered sheet while it is being removed, .tothereby prevent the leading edge of an oncoming underlying sheet fromcurling up while it advances to said slow-down means.

8. Sheet registering mechanism, having in combination, a registeringtable adapted to support a continuous bank of seriated sheets, frontregistering guides, preregistering means adapted to receive anunderlying sheet and opening above a sheet so that it mayclose on thetop surface of said sheet, slow it down, and move bodily with a sheet topresent it to said front registering guides, and means extending abovesaid table and said registering guides and adapted to hold down aregistered sheet while it is being removed, to

thereby prevent the leading edge of an oncoming underlying sheet fromcurling up while it advances to said slow-down means.

ROBERT REINAR'IZ.

